Robert Bruce Charter, 31st March 1327 – the earliest document held at the Council Archives
For July’s Document of the Month, a volunteer at the Council Archives on a week’s placement for work experience was invited to find the earliest document we hold as part of an exercise. She found the item very quickly, and this is the article that she wrote about it:
A charter in amongst the collections of the Murray’s of Polmaise, kept in order to prove their right to the land, is the oldest known document in the archives, dated at March 31st, 1327. The charter is written in Latin, and is by Robert the Bruce to Hugh Polayn, exchanging half of the estate of ‘Wyggotschaw’, in the Sherriffdom of Lanark, in return for the service of one archer, a common practice in the feudalistic society of the time, particularly in the tumultuous time of the 1300’s, during the ongoing Wars of Independence.
In 1327, Robert the Bruce was King, and in this year Edward II of England was forced to abdicate and died under suspicious circumstances. Tensions remained high between Scotland and England in these final years of the First War of Independence. Despite the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 indicating the strong support for Scottish Independence and asking the pope to recognise Robert the Bruce as Scotland’s lawful king, this did not occur until 1 May 1328. The treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton of this date, which King Edward III of England was made to sign, finally recognised the independence of Scotland and Robert the Bruce as the new nation’s King.
Thus, at the time of this charter in 1327, the conflict between Scotland and England was not resolved. In 1326, Bruce had revived, with Charles IV King of France, the Franco-Scottish Alliance, directed against England. The agreement stated both sovereigns would support each other in the case of war with this common enemy. Similarly, England was also causing further tensions, still not permitting full Scottish rights, and persistently referring to Bruce and his subjects as “Robert the Bruce and his adherents”.
It is not at all surprising, therefore that, at this time, Robert the Bruce would be gifting land in exchange for the right to raise men for his army, in case he was required to defend his cause during the ongoing conflict with England. In fact, the timing of this shows the necessity of Robert the Bruce to amass an army, as between June and August of 1327 a Scottish force of about 20,000 broke the truce with England and attacked their forces in the North of England around the Tyne Valley area, fighting through Edward III’s men down as far as Appleby in Yorkshire and gaining overall victory in what came to be known as the Weardale Campaign. This cost the English around £70,000 and helped pave the way for the independence of Scotland to be recognised in the following year.
Appended to the charter is the Great Seal of Scotland at the time, proving that the charter is from Robert I. Although faded and worn down over time, the seal shows the King on his horse on one side, and seated on his throne on the other.
As for the land given, it states that it is for Hugh Polayn. It is unknown who this is, but another charter from 1324 by King Robert the Bruce also gave a ‘Hew Polayn’ the lands of Finhaven, which indicates that this is likely to be the same man and someone who had the King’s favour. As for how the land got into the hands of the Murrays, we do not know, but interestingly, Andrew of Moray, a Murray alive and even taken as hostage during the First War of Independence, is declared as one of the witnesses on the charter. The land given is said to be of Wyggotshaw in Lanark, lying next to the land of John of Monford of the Bradwod. In the modern day, it is likely that such lands referred to are what is now known as Waygateshaw in South Lanarkshire, and Braidwood, close by.
On this land of Waygateshaw is Waygateshaw House, which can be dated to the 16th century, and was owned by the Murrays. However, not long after it would have been built it was then passed by marriage to Alexander Lockhart in 1539. Alexander Lockhart is a descendant of Symon Locard, 2nd of Lee, who also fought in the Wars of Independence against the English, and was knighted by Robert the Bruce for his loyal service. Alexander Lockhart also has some other, more infamous family history, as during the time the family owned Waygateshaw House and its land, Stephen Lockhart was indicted for the murder of Lord Henry Darnley, second husband of Mary Queen of Scots, who was also suspected to have played a part in her husband’s murder.
This land clearly has some interesting history, and the house has supposedly dealt with many fires over the years. The property is referred to by a Carluke, Lanarkshire page on Facebook as “haunted” and by the Scottish Daily Mail as a “Mansion with a Story”. The history of this land can be traced even further back beyond this charter, as there may have been a 12th century motte at Waygateshaw, though all trace of it is now lost, so this charter is the first document referring to the land, which over the years also had a 5-storey tower house built on it in the mid-16th century, with an extra, modern wing built in the 19th century, and is currently a private home.
